Trendlines Medical Singapore Launches

Editor’s note: News of the launch appeared in Globes (Hebrew and English).

We are pleased to announce the official opening and launch of Trendlines Medical Singapore on 22 February 2017. The company is committed to investing in and providing intense support for Singaporean medical and health care start-ups developing advanced devices and technologies for the global marketplace.

Trendlines launches Singapore incubator

By Gali Weinreb, Globes (7 March 2017)

The incubator will deal mainly in medical devices.

Trendlines Ltd. (SI:42T) , one of the first Israeli companies to be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, recently launched its technology incubator in Singapore. The incubator will deal mainly in medical devices.

In July 2016, “Globes” became the first to report Trendlines’ plan to launch the incubator. Other partners in the incubator include German company B. Braun, which has also invested in Trendlines itself, and the Singapore-based Prime Partners investment bank, which operates in Israel in cooperation with Discount Underwriting. Prime Partners was responsible for Trendlines’ IPO on the Singapore Stock Exchange. Read the full article on Globes.

In addition to Globes (English and Hebrew), news of the launch was featured on CNA Singapore Tonight (22 February 2017; segment runs from 20:11 to 21:40 in the video).

Eric Loh, CEO of Trendlines Medical Singapore, conducted the first board meeting of the Singapore-based incubator on 22 February 2017; members of The Trendlines Group’s senior management team and board of directors, and B. Braun’s Asia-Pacific headquarters and Aesculap Division were in attendance.

Other partners in the incubator are B. Braun AG, one of the world’s leading global medical device companies, Singapore investment bank PrimePartners Corporate Finance Holdings, and SPRING Singapore, the enterprise development agency of Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Trendlines believes in the potential of the Southeast Asian market in general and Singapore in particular. In November 2015, the Company completed an IPO on the Catalist of the SGX and was valued at SGD$100.2 million (US$70.6 million) at the close of trading on February 20. The new incubator, its first outside of Israel, deepens Trendlines’ involvement in and impact on the local market.

Trendlines Medical Singapore will operate according to the same model as Trendlines’ leading incubator in Israel: After a strict vetting process, Trendlines Medical Singapore will make an initial cash investment into selected companies. The companies will be located in the incubator facility where they receive intense hands-on guidance and support throughout the technology and business development processes.

The structure of Trendlines Medical Singapore is also reminiscent of the Israel incubator model: Trendlines is the largest shareholder (holding approximately 76.4%). B. Braun AG holds approximately 20.0%. One of the world’s largest advanced medical technology corporations, B. Braun was a cornerstone investor in the Trendlines IPO and is an investor in several of Trendlines’ portfolio companies in Israel. Singapore investment bank PrimePartners Corporate Finance Holdings joined as the third partner, holding approximately 3.5% of the shares. Additionally, Trendlines Singapore Medical will receive a grant of up to SGD$2.2 million (~US$ 1.55 million) under the Incubator Development Program administered by SPRING Singapore, the enterprise development agency of the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry.

“The combination of Trendlines’ expertise in early-stage investments and management of a technology incubator, the worldwide experience of B. Braun in the medical industry, the network of connections that Prime Partners brings in Singapore and Southeast Asia, and the support of SPRING, provides an excellent foundation to build on and to progress from,” said Eric Loh, CEO of Trendlines Medical Singapore.

Artist’s rendering of the Trendlines Medical Singapore offices in the Launchpad@One North complex.

Chairman and CEO of The Trendlines Group, Steve Rhodes added: “This year, we celebrate a decade of activities of our Israeli operations, during which time we established no fewer than 75 medical and agtech start-ups, with the assistance of partners and the support of the Israel Innovation Authority (previously Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist). We carried out six exits, took two companies public, and won a number of prestigious awards. The technology incubator model we built has been proven — and continues to prove itself. Now is the right time for us to ‘export’ it. The Singapore market suits us very well because it is dynamic, growing, and innovation-focused, much like the Israeli market.”